Indiana Surplus appears magically after state workers, schools and agencies sacrifice pay and benefits. Now that’s Republican economics.

I guess this is supposed to be good news, and a show of responsible governing:

nwitimes: After a year of spending cuts to state agencies and school districts, during which state workers were asked to do more than ever, Indiana released its final budget numbers for the fiscal year that showed it sitting on a $1.2 billion surplus.

In what can only be described as one of the most bizarre insults yet, by a complete Republican ass**le:

State Auditor Tim Berry called the state workers who bore most of those budget cuts via greater workloads, "heroes. The surplus was built on the backs of state employees," said Berry, after he thanked them for tightening their belts.

No, we want to thank you for revealing your that inner Scrooge. Perhaps all that perceived suffering right now, by the poor and the middle class, is nothing more than "an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato."

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to keep the cash rather than stop the public pain or pour more money into the economy through better wages. And you thought conservatives had human feelings.

It just goes to show how easily the public believes in the carnival barking GOP echo chamber over the uneasy feeling they get making cuts to education and children's health programs. Schools were cut by $325 million and the Department of Child Services budget got slashed $104 million.

Yeah for budget surpluses.